Category: Pandemic Series

Treat Training and Luring Insights

9/22/2022

Today I am going to go over the very commonly used practices of treat training used with luring to train your dog.   Most of this training falls under the category of positive reinforcement. That is the practice of adding something to increase the likely hood of a behavior.   In this case, we are talking about food rewards.

CONSIDERATIONS WHEN TRAINING WITH FOOD:

Most puppy training starts with food training.   Puppies are maturing, and do not have the focus of an adult dog.   They are discovering the world with their paws, nose, eyes, and mouth. Therefore, humans need a good reward method to catch their attention for any period of time.

Adult dogs will have more maturity and focus (usually). Therefore, the first section does not necessarily apply to them.   Although, these are things you may want to consider, especially if your adult dog seems at all flat when training.   Both young and old dogs need a distraction free place to start learning at first.

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Building blocks of dog training

5/18/2020

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Most dog owners, especially first time dog owners, do not have a real understanding of what dog training is. How could they? This is not something taught to us in most schools, and dogs are a totally different species than we are. The building blocks of dog training are very important, and it is the understanding of these and why they are used that confuse most dog owners.

The first thing you should know is dog training is a process. There are many steps, and if you don't step off on the right foot in the first place, you will make your self a lot of unnecessary work later or just give up in frustration at a point where you could have excelled. This blog seeks to give you some insights to understand the bones of the process in hopes that when you start training you will continue on to a very enjoyable life for you and your dog with a fabulous working relationship.

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Trick Tuesday-Spin or Follow The Hand

4/21/2020

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This is just the beginning of the spin trick. There are more steps later on to have the puppy or dog doing this on their own for the verbal only or signal only command.

Equipment needed: dog or puppy, six foot leash, flat collar that does not come off of head, treats, place to sit or kneel down (can be done standing too, but usually you need to start lower down. NOTE: TREATS SHOULD BE SMALL FOR PUPPIES AND NOT THAT BIG FOR DOGS EITHER. THEIR KIBBLE CAN BE USED FOR THIS.

STEP 1: Hold handle of leash in one hand.
STEP 2: Put treat in the other hand.
STEP 3: Make sure you have the puppy fairly close to you on the leash.
STEP 4: Place the treat close to or right on the puppies nose if needed in a closed hand.
STEP 5: Then lure with your hand so the puppy's head turns to start. Don't expect more than a head turn at first. If they do go all around with their body at first, then great! The second time they may not. Just be patient with the puppy or dog at first, as they do not understand exactly what we want yet. This is the teaching or showing phase of training.
STEP 6: When they turn their head, say "good boy" or "good girl" (notice we are not giving a command at this point), and then open your hand so they can take the food.
STEP 7: Repeat for about 15 repetitions. Young puppies should only be trained for a short period of time, and ideally you want them wanting more at the end.

NOTE: If they start moving their body with the food on the first session, that is great but it might not happen. Do not push the puppy (or dog) too fast. Stay slow and steady and the exercise will perform better in the long run. In the next session, you may want the dog to do a complete spin before getting the treat. When that starts happening consistently, then you can use the command "spin" or "good spin" (if you are using a marker system) when the dog or puppy completes the spin.

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So you have a new puppy what training to start with right away-Pandemic Series Day 28 of Social Distancing

4/7/2020

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Sally Wally Woo as she is known here.

Puppies can do more than human babies can do, but do remember that these are babies. Everything is new to them. In this article, I am going to attach some basic puppy links of the things that you might not know about puppies, how they develop and how they mature. The real purpose of this article is how you go about training a puppy the right way, and with the knowledge that these are babies.

Growth Stages in Puppies (Many people consider a dog mature at 2 years, but with our breed, the Doberman, it seems like three years in when they get there)
Critical Periods in Puppy Development
Incomplete listing of things that are poison to your puppy
House Training Tips
Crate Training (be sure to scroll all the way down, they have specific instructions on this article)
A listing of all sorts of link in regards to puppies
Socialization strategies
Tips about your new puppy

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Have you decided you want a dog or puppy? Now what? Day 18 of the Pandemic and we are starting to approach the bunny slope of dog training.

3/28/2020

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Baby B or Our Boris

Some of you already have a dog or puppy that you would like to be working with. I hope that I have some readers that have not yet selected their dog or puppy. This is truly the beginning of where you would ideally like to start. As with life, things very rarely go as we expect. However, we can try to stack the odds in our favor. It is not a perfect science by any means.

We have done a fair number of articles in the past on considerations when selecting your new dog or your additional dog that is new to a pack. Here are the links to those articles below:

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So you have decided you want a dog? This is a listing of the many things to think about before selecting you new best canine companion.

3/27/2020

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K is for Kipper

I have loved animals since childhood. In my adult life, I enjoy my time spent with dogs. I love doing things with them that they love doing. My motivation comes from a place that wants to provide my dogs with the most enjoyment possible. I am the rare person that has not, in fact, met the dog she wouldn't like. Professional dog trainers told me that when I worked enough dogs, I would find some that I did not like (dogs that is). This has not happened, though I will admit to liking some dogs less than others. This usually just has to do with more time spent with a dog/owner team over another. I like them all, and I appreciate them all. I like the ones who are bomb proof to the most behaviorally challenged dogs that I have had the pleasure of meeting.

Many people want the dog to fill up a spot of incompleteness in their lives. People may feel their child needs a companion or responsibility. Some people think that getting a dog will make them exercise more, as those dusty machines in the corner have not motivated them to do. For some a dog is a replacement for children they can't have or adult children that have left. Sometimes people think too much about what they dog will do for them, and do not consider what must be done for the dog OR the spirit in which care should be done.

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Start on the bunny slope of dog training or Pandemic Day 17 what else do you have to do?

3/26/2020

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Baby Fergus is your bunny slope model for today.

In the past (before I knew how to train my dogs and before I even had an inkling of dog training), down hill skiing on vacation was the most relaxing thing for me. This was true even though I was a $hit skier, and had to take lessons every time to improve myself. I feel like it is the same reason that training dogs (and just hanging with them too) relaxes me. FIRST of all you have a goal to reach. SECOND to reach the goal you need skills and a plan to obtain those skills and THIRD if you don't concentrate on that, you are going to fall off the mountain! 😂 Okay, maybe it is just that you don't get down the mountain the way you wanted OR you get hurt on the way there (by your own self).

So the first time I went skiing with my husband on vacation, I took for granted that you put on the skis and magically down the mountain you went. I mean I had skated when I was thirteen, right? Thankfully, we did have a ski instructor who came with us (and somehow ignored all the obvious signs that I had no idea what I was doing----which included riding up in sub zero weather holding onto my gloves instead of having them on---sliding backwards on my skis before getting onto the lift). Long story short, we got down several hours later, by the instructor (from the top of the mountain mind you), skiing backwards while I held onto his ski poles in front of him. Clearly mad skills HE had and strength. I needed to start on the bunny hill first, and then the advanced bunny hill, and so on before you even think of starting at the top of the mountain.

Pandemic Day 17's dog training tip: Bring you and your dog to the bunny slopes first. More of that soon, since I have some time on my hands.

Follow Mannerly Mutts Dog Training's Facebook page for tips on how to handle the bunny slope.

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Treat Training and Luring Insights

Building blocks of dog training

Trick Tuesday-Spin or Follow The Hand

So you have a new puppy what training to start with right away-Pandemic Series Day 28 of Social Distancing

Have you decided you want a dog or puppy? Now what? Day 18 of the Pandemic and we are starting to approach the bunny slope of dog training.

So you have decided you want a dog? This is a listing of the many things to think about before selecting you new best canine companion.

Start on the bunny slope of dog training or Pandemic Day 17 what else do you have to do?

Author, Robin Rubin

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